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Urbane Guerrilla · 07-01-2010, 10:17 AM

I am saying there is no worthy form of government except from an empowered electorate. A genuine democracy, in short, or its constitutional-monarchic equivalent, which is in most cases the prevailing modern monarchic model.

Democracies and republics behave much better than autocracies and oligarchies, who are easily moved to war and banditry.

Call me a fanatic if you want to, but consider for the sake of argument if no other: when the last dictator is hanged on the spilled tripes of the last national chief of secret police, how much misery will have fled the world?

I think a lot of the world's troubles would be gone. I'm not Pollyanna enough to think this would be just naturally permanent, but I think the novel experience of good government in places previously run by despotic oligarchies would make for healthier politics, instead of semiperiodic revolutions that swap one man-on-horseback for another, distinguishable only by hairstyle. Said novel experience would also cause the next wave of despotic evil to be feebler, as fewer people would put up with it.

Democracy accords with the population having a personal stake in how the state is run. Under autocracy, the safest option is to duck out of sight and stay as uninvolved and passive as possible. Doesn't seem optimal to me. Certainly isn't any "moral equivalent," which seems to be what you're hinting at, HLJ.

I've been out there. I've seen what despotism is like. It's left me, well, other than naïve. You?

07-01-2010, 10:17 AM	#8
Urbane Guerrilla Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Southern California Posts: 6,674	I am saying there is no worthy form of government except from an empowered electorate. A genuine democracy, in short, or its constitutional-monarchic equivalent, which is in most cases the prevailing modern monarchic model. Democracies and republics behave much better than autocracies and oligarchies, who are easily moved to war and banditry. Call me a fanatic if you want to, but consider for the sake of argument if no other: when the last dictator is hanged on the spilled tripes of the last national chief of secret police, how much misery will have fled the world? I think a lot of the world's troubles would be gone. I'm not Pollyanna enough to think this would be just naturally permanent, but I think the novel experience of good government in places previously run by despotic oligarchies would make for healthier politics, instead of semiperiodic revolutions that swap one man-on-horseback for another, distinguishable only by hairstyle. Said novel experience would also cause the next wave of despotic evil to be feebler, as fewer people would put up with it. Democracy accords with the population having a personal stake in how the state is run. Under autocracy, the safest option is to duck out of sight and stay as uninvolved and passive as possible. Doesn't seem optimal to me. Certainly isn't any "moral equivalent," which seems to be what you're hinting at, HLJ. I've been out there. I've seen what despotism is like. It's left me, well, other than naïve. You? __________________ Wanna stop school shootings? End Gun-Free Zones, of course.